This invention relates to the manufacture of metallic strip and more particularly to the apparatus and method for integrated, continuous, high speed manufacture of finished metallic strip from a metallic melt.
It is well known in the art to cast indefinite lengths of metallic rods or strands from a melt by drawing the melt through a cooled mold. Known casting techniques include downcasting, horizontal or inclined casting and upcasting. Co-pending application Ser. No. 928,881 of which this application is a continuation-in-part, discloses a mold assembly and method for the continuous up-casting of high quality metallic rods, particularly those of copper and copper alloys including brass, at production speeds many times faster than those previously attainable with closed mold systems.
The manner in which the casting is drawn through the chilled mold is an important aspect of the casting process. A cycle of forward and reverse strokes makes possible the production of high quality rods by aiding the formation of the casting skin, preventing casting termination, and compensating for contraction of the casting within the die as it cools. The pattern of cast withdrawal as disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 928,881 allows for exceptionally high casting speeds. The intermittent nature of the casting withdrawal, however, has precluded an integrated, continuous process for converting the cast rod to finished strip, for example, because the rolling mills for such a conversion from rod to strip require the working material to be moving at a uniform velocity if heavy reductions are to be made.
Conventional techniques for producing brass strip, for example, are cumbersome and time consuming. Often, more than forty separate steps are required to produce a finished thin strip taking as long as forty days, including waiting time between processing machines.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for the integrated, continuous high speed production of high quality, hot rolled metallic strip starting from a melt.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus, compact in size, which costs much less than conventional strip-making installations and which operates at a much higher throughput rate.
A still further object is to provide such an apparatus capable of producing very thin metallic strips at much less cost than possible with conventional techniques.